SPICY CARROT SALAD WITH PISTACHIOS AND CRANBERRIES

Fragrant spices, bright colours, exotic flavours – this Middle Eastern style salad ticks all the boxes and tantalises your taste buds. I often serve this salad alongside my Moroccan Lamb Stew or other main dishes with similar flavours.  Having said that, it could be served next to other dishes with rather subtle and delicate tastes by way of contrast that helps you to appreciate the different textures and flavours.

To feed 6 people, you need:

8-10 medium carrots

1 big red chili, de-seeded

4 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed or finely grated

½ cup of dried cranberries

½ cup of mint leaves torn

1 tbsp of coriander leaves chopped

3 tbsp pistachio nuts, slightly toasted

For the dressing:

½ cup of extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 tsp honey

Juice of 1 lime

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method:

Peel the carrots and grate them either with a grater or using a food processor, whatever is available and easy to use.  Finely chop the chilies and add to the salad together with garlic and cranberries.

Using a small jar with an air-tight lid, combine all the ingredients for the dressing and give it a good shake, have a taste and adjust so that you are happy with the balance of sweet and sour with a slight tang coming from the mustard.  Also bear in mind that the cranberries will add some sweetness too.

Pour the dressing over the salad, add nuts and mint and coriander leaves and mix quite well, give it a taste and adjust the seasoning.  Keep the salad in the fridge until serving.

The flavours of this salad are quite bold; however they should complement each other nicely.  And don’t worry that it might be too hot because of the chilies, the mind leaves are there to keep the heat under control.

Enjoy!!!

MOROCCAN LAMB STEW

A delicious winter dish full of the exotic flavours of the Moroccan souks that will fill your kitchen with wonderful aromas and put happy smiles on the faces of your fellow diners. 

Although it is extremely tasty when just cooked, however, prepare it the day in advance to let the flavours develop and penetrate deeper into the lamb.

To feed 8 people you need:

1.2 kg of lamb shoulder deboned

50 ml olive oil

1 big brown onion cubed

5 garlic cloves peeled and lightly flattened

1 small red chili deseeded

1 tsp tumeric

1 tsp coriander seeds

½ tsp fennel seeds

2 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp sumac

5 cloves

3 star anise

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Topping:

3 tbsp coriander chopped

3 tbsp almond flakes for extra crunch

3 tbsp pomegranate seeds (optional)

Method:

Cut the meat into similar sized cubes around 6cm each.  Heat the oil in a heavy-based pan on medium-high heat (I use one that I brought with me from Russia many years ago) and fry onions until they turn dark brown but make sure you don’t burn them.  The dark colour is vital because that’s what gives the whole dish a dark rich brown colour.

While the onions are cooking, warm up a small frying pan and gently fry coriander and fennel seeds for about 5 minutes until they release their flavours, then grind in a pestle and mortar and add to the onions together with all other spices and mix well.

Once the onions are dark, add the meat, stir and let it release the juices, turning over as it gets darker.  Once all the liquid is evaporated, reduce the heat and add about half a cup of water and cover with the lid but place it slightly askew to let the steam out.  It will help to brown the meat and thicken the sauce.  After cooking it for about 20 minutes, check the seasoning and adjust to your taste.  It is very important to get the taste right while the meat is still cooking.  Make sure that the sauce is salty enough for meat to absorb.  When the meat is almost cooked, throw in the garlic

After cooking it for about 20 minutes, check the seasoning and adjust to your taste.  It is very important to get the taste right while the meat is still cooking.  Make sure that the sauce is salty enough for meat to absorb.  When the meat is almost cooked, throw in the garlic. 

Reduce the heat to low and cook for about 1 hour, stirring occasionally and topping up with some water, leaving small tips of meat uncovered.   Continue cooking until the meat becomes very soft and quite dark.

When the meat is cooked and you are ready to serve, ladle it on an attractive looking big plate or a bowl (think about presentation) and place in the middle of a table for everyone to share.  To add some nice crunch and texture to the dish, sprinkle over with freshly chopped coriander, lightly toasted almond flakes and pink jewels of pomegranate.  

This dish is traditionally served with fluffy couscous but a creamy mash potatoes or your favourite pasta work equally well with the meat.

I also like to serve it with a Spicy Carrot Salad that beautifully complements the flavours of the main dish.

Enjoy!!!

WINTER WARMERS - SPICY FISH SOUP

I like to serve this soup during the winter months as it has a warm kick which we crave at this time of the year thanks to the lovely combination of heat coming from the chilies, the smoky flavour of paprika and the sourness of the lime juice, enhanced by the smell of fresh seafood - it is truly one pot wonder for the body and soul.  

You need (for 6-8 people):

800 gr of seafood marinara (see Hot Tip)

3 tbs of olive oil

1 large brown onion, peeled and cubed

3 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced

2X400 g cans of peeled and chopped tomatoes

1 L of chicken or fish stock

2 tsp of smoked paprika

1 tsp of sweet paprika

Chili flakes as many or as little as you like

1-2 tsp of brown sugar

juice of half a lime

2 bay leaves

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

To serve:

1 tbs of flat leaf parsley finely chopped

1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil

1 packet of flat bread

Optional:

Thicken the soup by adding a can of lentils or any of your favourite beans to turn it into a meal.

Method: 

Heat the olive oil in a large pot and sauté the onions and garlic but do not let them go brown, add all the ingredients except for the marinara, bring to the boil and let the soup simmer for about 10-15 minutes for the flavours to fully develop.  Give it a taste bearing in mind that the soup should have a distinctive taste from the heat, sourness and sweetness, so adjust the ingredients accordingly to maintain the perfect balance.  Add more sugar and sweet paprika, if the sourness is over-powering or more lime juice if not sour enough.  Also, the heat of the soup can be controlled by adding small amounts of chili flakes until you reach the degree of heat that suits your taste buds.

Once you are happy with the taste, gently submerge the seafood into the pot.  After cooking for about 5 minutes, check if it is ready.  Stir in parsley and serve.

Instead of regular bread, I use flat bread which I brush with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt, then slice into strips about 2 cm thick and grill in the oven until crispy and golden brown.  These strips could be served with other soups such as my Pumpkin Soup and Lentil Soup.

Hot Tip:  I find the combination of fish, calamari, octopus and mussels is ideal; all of the ingredients are cut to the same size, cleaned and ready to cook).  

Enjoy!!!

PUMPKIN SOUP

In my previous post I shared with you one of my family's winter favourites, lentil soup.  Today is pumpkin's soup turn to take centre stage.

The recipe and cooking technique are very simple, however it requires some prep.

To feed 6 people you need:

1 kg of pumpkin (peeled and cubed) – I am not fussy about what kind of pumpkin to use

3 medium potatoes (peeled and cubed)

1 red onion (peeled and cubed)

2 L of boiling water

4 cubes of chicken or vegetable stock or vegetable stock for vegetarian option

Salt and freshly ground black paper

1 tbs of chopped coriander or chives (to your taste) to serve
Pouring cream to serve

Method:
When preparing the vegetables, bear in mind that the potatoes need to be sliced into smaller chunks then the pumpkin as it takes longer to cook.

Place pieces of pumpkin, potatoes and onions in a pot, pour over boiling water, crush 4 cubes of stock, bring to the boil and simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes.  Using the blender, blitz the soup until the smooth consistency and give it a taste.

Add some salt if required.  The soup will be quite sweet due to the nature of the pumpkin.  You can always spice it up with just a few chili flakes and a lot of freshly ground black pepper

When serving, pour into a soup bowl, spoon a cream with a tea spoon and sprinkle it over the soup.   You can have some fun with it – try to draw dots and cross some lines with the cream, creating some sort of pattern like a real pro.  Sprinkle with chopped herbs and freshly ground black paper.  Serve with warm crusty bread. 

Enjoy!!!

THE TEST KITCHEN, CAPE TOWN

If you ever going to visit Cape Town, don't forget to include a trip to the Old Biscuit Mill - a vibrant, warm-hearted little area in the heart of Woodstock, one of the up and coming suburbs that, in recent years, has become home to a creative community of innovative designers, artists, photographers and connoisseurs of fine taste and décor. The Mill is home to day and night markets, dynamic office space, a range of workshops and designer stores, delicious farm stalls, decadent restaurants as well as an inspiring line-up of festivals and productions.

It is such a fascinating place to be.  Every corner you turn, you most certainly will discover some new ideas and inspirations, feel the vibe of creativity hanging in the air, to find beautiful pieces made out of ceramic, textiles, glass or metal.  I always come back to it and quite often end up buying some jewellery or a scarf or a beautiful ceramic bowl.

Once your appetite for creativity has been satisfied, think what you can do to pleasure your taste buds.  And don’t you worry, you don’t need to go far as the Mill is bursting with cafes, restaurants and coffee hangouts.

Amongst the highly regarded places to eat, the two which I strongly recommend are The Taste Kitchen and its his humble cousin The Pot Luck Club.  

The Taste Kitchen which was opened in 2010, is owned and run by the British born head chef Luke Dale-Roberts, one of the most celebrated chefs who cooks his most creative dished in a distinctive contemporary space.

“The Test Kitchen”, as its name implies, affords Luke the opportunity for maximum innovation as a chef and the dishes are a pure reflection of his creativity with flavours and ingredients.”

During our fist trip to the Old Biscuit Mill we were not lucky enough to score a table at this establishment. Due to its huge popularity, this place gets booked for months in advance.  So the next year, the moment we booked our plane tickets to South Africa, while still in Sydney we went on-line and made a lunch reservation.  And we were not disappointed.

As we stepped inside the restaurant, we were greeted by the floor manager who kindly offered us a table in a quieter part of the restaurant.  On our way to the table I looked around to get a feeling of the place.  The space itself is a fusion of industrial rust softened by urban/Asian-inspired décor—textured paper globes hang from the ceiling, piles of bespoke crockery are neatly packed onto crimson shelves and beaten metal tables juxtaposed along leather covered couches make up the intimate restaurant. At its heart is the open kitchen; wrapped around the perimeter is the ‘kitchen bar’, here guests can dine off the â la carte menu while watching the carousel of professional chefs create culinary magic.

The lunch menu at The TasteKitchen had three choices:  a-la carte, a 5-course lunch and a vegetarian lunch menu.  We chose a-la carte one. 

The first thing that arrived on the table was a trio of deliciously smelled, in-house baked bread rolls with home churned butter carefully placed inside a muslin cloth and oven baked flour dust.

A trio of breads

For a starter, I choose Grilled Scallop (grilled scallop, fine bean, tofu miso suke, braised scallop dressing, miso on toast, braised shitake, raw shitake) while my husband settled for Pickled Fish (ceviche, lightly curried dressing, bbq carrots, ras el hanout honeycomb).

Pickled Fish

Grilled Scallop

My main was Autumn Lamb (pan seared lamb loin, slow roasted lamb shanks, lamb sweetbreads, bbq broccoli puree, courgette and caper emulsion, lamb jus).  And since my husband absolutely loves eating duck, there were no surprises here.  He ordered Confit Duck (confit duck leg, mushroom and liver stuffing, assorted onions, truffle and foie gras egg, duck liver jus).

Confit of Duck

Autumn Lamb

As for dessert, my choice fell on Carob (carob mousse, roast banana butter, meringue, rum foam, coffee and tanariva cremeux) while my husband ordered Apple (apple crumble, elderflower jelly, sour cream, signing nettle granita, streudel).

Apple Crumble

Carob dessert

Enjoying the dessert

While we were enjoying a glass of champagne, a carton with two ceramic eggs was placed on the table in front of us.  Inside were pastel balls of sorbet, a fitting end to a light summer’s lunch.

Sorbet served in porcelain egg cups

Sorbet

The food absolutely blew us away.  Every dish was cooked to perfection; the match of flavours was superb and looked like an art-work on the plate.

The staff was deeply knowledgeable, very friendly and knows exactly how to put their patrons at ease and let them enjoy the experience from the beginning to end.

We had an amazing culinary adventure and I would recommend anyone who is planning a trip to Cape Town to experience it.  A word of warning, don’t attempt to go there without booking and you might need to book a few months in advance.  But I promise, you will not be disappointed.

WINTER WARMERS - LENTIL SOUP

Now that winter is on our doorstep, the temperature is in decline and the days are becoming shorter and darker  (in OZ that is), it is high time for some comfort food and I am going to share with you three of my favourite soups: lentil, pumpkin and fish. 

All are very easy to make, as they do not call for many ingredients and they are my family’s all time favourites.  As a matter of fact, at a recent dinner party I served a fish soup as an entrée and was awarded 10 out of 10 for it by my guests.

First, lentil soup, probably the easiest of them all.

You need (for 6 people):

1 brown onion, cubed

4 tbs of olive oil

3 cloves of garlic (sliced)

1 cup of red lentils (rinsed)

2 L of water

4 cubes of chicken or vegetable stock

1 400 g can of tomatoes (whole or diced as long as they are peeled)

1 tbs of tomato paste

1 sprig of rosemary

Red hot chili powder (optional, to taste)

1 tsp of smoked paprika

Half tsp of sugar

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Extra virgin olive oil to serve

Method:

Heat the olive oil in a cooking pot and sauté the onions and garlic until soft and translucent but don’t let them go brown.  Stir in tomato paste and cook for 30 seconds.  Add lentils, a can of tomatoes, rosemary, pour 2 litres of boiling water and crumble 4 cubes of chicken stock.  Let it come to the boil, if you use whole tomatoes, grab a masher and give them a crush.   Reduce heat and let it simmer for about 20 minutes or until the lentils are cooked.  Give it a taste and adjust seasoning.  I like to add some smoked paprika and a sprinkle of hot chili powder for a kick.  Also, if you don’t favour the taste of sourness coming from the tomato paste, you can soften it up by adding half a teaspoon of sugar.  Chicken stock is usually quite salty, but you can add more salt if you wish.

When serving, pour the soup into bowls, drizzle over with extra virgin olive oil and and grind over some black pepper.  Serve with the warm crisp bread.  

Enjoy!!!

SINGAPORE NOODLES WITH PRAWNS FROM THE STREETS OF BANGKOK

This recipe is my life saver – quick, easy with a minimum of ingredients and maximum flavour - no wonder it is one of the most popular dishes cooked on the streets of Bangkok.

Keep a pack of pre-cooked noodles in your pantry and a pack of frozen prawns in the freezer and with the help of a few fresh vegetables your midweek dinner will be cooked in a flash.  And you can always substitute fresh vegetables with a can of corn kernels or frozen peas, just keep the flavours sharp and fresh.

To feed 4 people you need:

1 pack of Singapore noodles or any noodles of your choice

2 eggs lightly beaten

250g fresh or frozen prawns, peeled and deveined

2 tbsp rice bran oil or any vegetable oil

4 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed

1 red onion, thinly sliced

1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated

2 red capsicums, deseeded and cut into strips

½ tsp tumeric

200g (half a bunch) gai lan (Chinese broccoli) chopped

1 tbsp light soy sauce

2 tbsp oyster sauce

1½ tbsp sesame oil

8 spring onions, chopped diagonally for nice presentation

1 cup bean sprouts

Method:

Prepare the noodles as per the instructions.  

Heat half of the oil in a wok over medium heat and once heated, add the egg mixture swirling it gently for 1 minute or until the eggs are almost set, then slide on to a board, slice into strips and set aside.

Heat the remaining oil, add the onion, garlic and ginger and stir-fry for 3 minutes or until softened.  Then add sliced capsicum, tumeric and gai lan and continue cooking for another minute or until the broccoli has just wilted.

Add the prawns and stir fry them for about 2 minutes.  Then add noodles, oyster sauce, light soy sauce and sesame oil.  Gently toss it all together so the noodles are fully covered with the sauce.

Slice the omelette into strips and stir through together with bean sprouts.  Sadly, I don’t like bean sprouts at all and never use them in cooking.

Serve garnished with spring onions and lime wedges.

Enjoy!!!